- He wears a lot of hats for indie rock veterans Grizzly
Bear, but bass
player/multi-instrumentalist Chris Taylor’s versatility clearly extends beyond
the studio and stage. Taylor, who also serves at the band’s producer and has a
solo project called CANT, also
has skills in the kitchen and he’s looking to bring those skills to the masses
by writing a cookbook. He is working on the project for publishing company
Random House and has sequestered himself in a rented house in the woodlands
near Germantown, N.Y., in between touring commitments. Explaining his passion
for cooking, Taylor said he has always had a love of the über-boring phenomenon
that are dinner parties and used that passion to drive his creative process for
the tome. “It doesn't have a title yet, but at the moment it's 20 dinners,
fully coursed, all seasonally relevant. I think a lot of people open a cookbook
and they're like, "Where do I start?" And this is just like, ‘Make
this dinner,’” he said. Taylor promised the cookbook would be “seasonally
relevant” and would seek to make cooking “approachable for people in a
different way.” “I love throwing dinner parties. I used to have a fire pit until
I got the cops called on me,” he explained. Hmm…interesting. Maybe dinner
parties are more interesting if you’re a successful rock star. With the
cookbook in the works, Grizzly Bear duties will soon pull Taylor back into the
musical realm for a tour of the United Kingdom in support of the band’s new
album, “Shields,” later this month………
- Speaking of the U.K., a hearty thumbs-up to a court there
for ruling Friday
that three elderly Kenyans who were victims of torture during British rule of
their country in the 1950s can claim compensation despite the passage of time. The
landmark ruling could open the floodgates for literally thousands of other cases.
Judge Richard McCombe, writing as the court’s official voice on the ruling,
summarily rejected the British Foreign Office’s argument that the events took
place too long ago for a fair hearing to take place and ordered that the case
should proceed to a full trial. In a sense, the U.K. government set itself up
for this fall during an earlier hearing in July when it admitted for the first
time that people were tortured during the “Mau Mau” uprising. In an apparent
show of humanity, Guy Mansfield, a lawyer representing Britain, told the three
plaintiffs that he did “not want to dispute the fact that terrible things
happened to you." The admission has added fuel to the fire of the case,
along with Paulo Muoka Nzili speaking at the hearing about how he was castrated
after his arrest by the colonial authorities and Wambuga Wa Nyingi recalling
how he was beaten unconscious as 11 others were beaten to death. Jane Muthoni
Mara finished off the world’s most-appalling story time session with the tale
of being beaten with sticks and sexually assaulted with a glass bottle
containing hot water after she gave food to Mau Mau fighters. Even though these
people are elderly now, their pain clearly remains and in a stroke of positive
fortune, McCombe wrote in his judgment Friday that he had concluded a fair
trial still remained possible. "The documentation is voluminous ... the
governments and military commanders seem to have been meticulous record
keepers," he wrote………….
- How much Houston Rockets first-round draft pick
Royce White will contribute to his new team this season is uncertain. White hasn’t
even shown up for training camp yet, but what is not in question is whether the
Royce White Experience will be entertaining for basketball fans. The 6-foot-8
White was the 16th overall pick after one season at Iowa State and he begins
his NBA career facing a dilemma that isn’t common among professional athletes,
but does resonte with many people in the world: he suffers from anxiety and
fear of flying. Because of that fear, the idea of flying to 41 road games every
season sent fear shooting down his spine and because of that fear, he informed
the team that he would not report to camp until an alternative travel plan for
the season could be devised. He explained on Twitter that he's working with the
team on an "innovative plan" to balance treatment with the NBA
schedule. "Anxiety isn't keeping
me from camp," White wrote, "taking a Proactive approach to my mental
illness instead of reactive is. #StayingAheadOfMyDisorder." The
general plan, crafted by White and his agent, is for the forward to buy his own
luxury bus and use it to travel to road games that are within driving distance.
The league most also approved the agreement and so far, the team has been tight-lipped
about the entire situation, refusing to comment beyond a statement that said
they "are committed to Royce's long term success and we will continue to
support him now and going forward." Despite his trepidation about flying,
White has admitted on Twitter that he knows driving to every game is not an
option, not with roadies to Portland, Los Angeles, Boston and New York all on
the schedule. "I will not travel every game via bus," he wrote on
Twitter. "It was decided that the less flying the less stress." For
now, his team will continue training camp without him McAllen, near the
Texas-Mexico border, the home of their development league affiliate. The
Rockets’ first preseason game is Wednesday night in McAllen against the
Oklahoma City Thunder and no one is sure if White will be there………
- There is absolutely no way to make an informed decision
about who to vote for in next month’s presidential election without getting the
opinion of a home appliance manufacturer. Everyone knows that Frigidaire,
Kenmore and GE have the best insights on the candidates and so it is fortunate
that KitchenAid has finally weighed in on the race for the Oval Office. The
company may not have known it was blasting President Barack Obama beyond the one
kook on staff with access to its official Twitter feed, but that doesn’t mean
the entire company isn't getting dragged down in the anti-Obama message. The
offending tweet came Wednesday night during the first presidential debate of
the election and although the general consensus was that Romney won the debate,
the unidentified KitchenAid employee felt even stronger about the result. "Obama's Grandma even knew it was going
to be bad! She died three days before he became President," this moron
tweeted. KitchenAid did what athletes and celebrities do when they tweet
something regrettable – delete the tweet – but as always, not before a few
people captured the message in a screen shot and posted it. The tweet went
viral within minutes. Whoever was behind the ill-advised exercise in free
speech posted their thoughts shortly after the president spoke about his
grandmother during the debate. "You know, my grandmother -- some of you
know -- helped to raise me. My grandfather died a while back. My grandmother
died three days before I was elected president," Obama said. For some
reason, KitchenAid apologized to the president for the supposed mistake and
issued an official statement. "It was carelessly sent in error by a member
of our Twitter team who, needless to say, won't be tweeting for us anymore,”
the statement read. Why not, KitchenAid, why not………
- General Motors is dominating the rechargeable car
market, but the battle for control of the market of cars running on renewable
energy is a long way from over. GM’s success has been fueled by the rise of the
Chevrolet Volt, which widened its lead as the top-selling U.S. rechargeable car this year.
Meanwhile, Toyota expanded plug-in Prius deliveries. Nissan remains lower on
the totem pole even though it maintains it is working to boost electric Leaf
sales. Through the end of September, sales of battery-only vehicles and those
with both battery packs and a gasoline engine for added range almost tripled to
about 31,400 from 11,094 a year earlier. The Volt leads the way with 16,348
vehicles sold, a fourfold increase from last year. The Prius is next with 7,734
and the Leak is third with 5,212. GM’s rise has been due in large part to its
decision to offer a discounted lease for the Volt, currently $299 a month for a
car with a $39,145 base price. Laws in some states now mandate the sale of rechargeable
vehicles and while demand hasn’t matched initial expectations of Nissan and
President Barack Obama, progress is being made. The current rate isn’t enough
to hit the Obama administration’s goal of a market of 1 million such vehicles
by 2015, but troubles at Nissan in developing an effective sales strategy for
electric cars is a perfect example of why the growth is so slow. Tesla Motor’s
Model S could help, but it only went into production in late June. GM maintains
that it is pleased with the direction the Volt is headed. “We’re really pleased
with the volumes we’re driving right now and want to grow them,” said Jim Cain,
a GM spokesman. “We’ve now got marketing that’s focused on the fuel savings
Volt offers and we’ve got an attractive lease that’s driving sales.” Leasing an
electric car in California isn't terribly expensive, as buyers can lease a Leaf
SV hatchback for $199 a month for 36 months. Nissan also may fall short of its
goal of selling 20,000 Leafs in the U.S. this year, although improving the
70-mile-per-charge travel range of the Leaf would help. Then again, so would
having more Americans with enough money to think about buying or even leasing a
new car……..
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